Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO CELIA, by HENRY FIELDING


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO CELIA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I hate the town and all its ways
Last Line: Since she possesses all I love.
Subject(s): Cities; Urban Life


I HATE the town, and all its ways;
Ridottos, operas, and plays;
The ball, the ring, the mall, the Court,
Wherever the beau monde resort;
Where beauties lie in ambush for folks,
Earl Straffords and the Dukes of Norfolks;
All coffee-houses and their praters,
All courts of justice and debaters;
All taverns, and the sots within 'em;
All bubbles, and the rogues that skin 'em.

I hate all critics; may they burn all,
From Bentley to the Grub Street Journal;
All bards, as Dennis hates a pun;
Those who have wit, and who have none.
All nobles of whatever station;
And all the parsons in the nation.
I hate the world crammed altogether,
From beggars, up, the Lord knows whither!
Ask you then, Celia, if there be
The thing I love? My charmer, thee.
Thee more than light, than life adore,
Thou dearest, sweetest creature, more
Than wildest raptures can express,
Than I can tell, or thou canst guess.
Then though I bear a gentle mind,
Let not my hatred of mankind
Wonder within my Celia move,
Since she possesses all I love.





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